The present invention generally relates to snow removal from walkways and driveways and, more particularly, to a manual snow clearing tool readily convertible for either plowing or scooping snow without lifting it or exerting much effort.
Manual snow removal from residential and commercial walkways and driveways is a demanding task due to the urgency with which it must ordinarily be done, the considerable effort that must usually be expended to accomplish it and the cold temperatures in which the work must normally be carried out. Because of these factors, it is not only an uninviting physical exercise, but more importantly, it constitutes a significant health hazard for a large segment of the population. As a result, many people feel the necessity to either purchase power-driven equipment, such as snow blowers or plows, to perform the task or hire others who have the equipment to provide such service.
Ownership of power-driven snow removal equipment has many drawbacks. First and foremost, there is its initial cost. Unless the area to be cleared of snow is fairly large and the expected frequency of snowfalls is high, it is difficult for many people to justify the initial investment. Then, at least annual service and maintenance is required to ensure that the equipment will be in working order when the need for its use arises. Also, fuel must be purchased and kept on hand to operate the equipment. Further, the handling of power-driven equipment in snow removal operations in cold weather and on slick surfaces is not an effortless exercise. Finally, when not being used power-driven equipment requires considerably more storage space than manual tools. Undoubtedly, given the aforementioned drawbacks of power-driven equipment, most people would opt for a manual snow removal tool if one was available which required little effort to use and was economical, durable and efficient.
Before the advent of power-driven snow removal equipment and continuing up to the present time, there has been a wide variety of manual or hand-powered tools designed for snow removal. The most common tool is the simple shovel having a generally flat or curved rectangular blade and a handle extending therefrom for directing the blade in pushing and lifting snow. Representative of the simple shovel and other prior art devices are the hand tools disclosed in Brownstein U.S. Pat. No. (1,202,792), Blair U.S. Pat. No. (1,519,718), Eden U.S. Pat. No. (1,667,591) and Fratini U.S. Pat. No. (4,094,543).
Of all of the above cited tools, only the Fratini device appears to be a step forward in hand-powered snow removal tool design. However, even it seems to embody several limitations which make it less than an optimum solution to the multi-faceted problem of providing a tool which, as outlined above, requires little effort to use while being economical, durable and efficient. Specifically, one limitation in the Fratini tool is the semi-circular curvature of his blade which provides a rather blunt leading face which during use will push a significant amount of snow straight ahead in front of the tool. Hence, a relatively high amount of force is required to push the tool which becomes very noticeable in deep snow.
Another limitation of the Fratini tool design is the provision of the bottom edge of a curved blade as the sole contact interface with the surface to be cleared of snow and thus that portion of the device through which the pushing force is applied to move the blade across the snow covered surface. The curved edge requires such hard pushing to slide it across the surface as to render impractical its use on a hand-powered tool. A further limitation of the Fratini tool design is that it still requires lifting of the cleared snow when being used as a shovel. Still another limitation of the Fratini tool design is that it provides a substantially rigid structure which will incur bone-jarring impacts and transmit the same to the user's hands and body upon jamming into obstructions and irregularities in the surface being cleared when being used as either a snow shovel or plow.
Consequently, in view of the above-cited limitations present in the construction of the Fratini snow removal tool, it is readily apparent that the long-felt need still remains for a manual snow removal tool which addresses the aforementioned problem of providing a tool which requires little effort to use while being ecomonical, durable and efficient.